Global center of excellence expands reach through new multilingual website
As Communication Manager at MINATEC, Célestine Janniaux was tasked with overhauling the cluster’s website. The project included developing a new multilingual website in French, English, and Japanese.
At the crossroads of higher education, research, and industry, Grenoble, France-based MINATEC provides a powerful collaborative work environment that attracts leading international-caliber scientists to develop future applications for micro and nanotechnologies. The new website needed to reflect the cluster’s positioning as a global center for excellence in micro and nanotechnology research.
Communication department sets the bar high
Célestine oversaw all aspects of this major project: developing content, locating potential service providers, budgeting, and supervising progress once the project—which took place over several months—got off the ground.
Because the website is one of the cluster’s most visible communication tools, there was no room for error. When it came to finding the right translator for the project, Célestine started by using her networking skills to get recommendations, and then invited selected translators to submit proposals that included a short test translation.
Célestine explains, “Sara was recommended to me by two people in my network. I contacted her, and she agreed to submit a proposal for the project. I had the different submissions evaluated by several people on our team: an American, a Canadian, and a French person who had spent a number of years in the United States. They were unanimous about the superior quality of Sara’s translation compared to the other submissions.” A choice was then made: SFM Traduction was asked to tackle the project.
Teamwork from day one
During the project, Célestine and Sara interfaced regularly. Sara submitted a constantly-updated list of queries and Célestine obtained the necessary explanations from experts at MINATEC. Sara communicated constantly with her proofreader to ensure that the MINATEC, team’s preferences were taken into account in the final copy of each page of the website.
Teamwork was a key aspect of the project from the get go. “In addition to the quality of the final project and the ability to meet the deadlines set—by far the most important points—the friendly, courteous working relations with Sara were a definite plus,” Célestine points out. Sara, on the other hand, valued Célestine’s willingness to go the extra mile to ask MINATEC experts for the information needed to ensure the translation was on target—crucial to ensuring quality. But that should come as no surprise given the cluster’s reputation as an innovative collaborative work environment!
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